“You never needed rescuing,” Mallory whispered.
“No,” Meg agreed. “I didn’t.”
“Do you even know how long I’ve looked for you? What about what you did to our parents? To me as your little sister? Because you fell in love?”
“What have you done for love, sis? You’re standing on a mountain, in the middle of the night, all alone with a ruthless group of criminals, because you love our dear king.”
“My whole life for the last two years has been about finding you. Wanting you to be safe.” Mallory’s chest felt like it was caving in.
“I never asked you for anything.” Meg’s voice was hard and colder than the wind.
“Then why? Why all of this?”
Meg stepped closer. Her gaze raked over Mallory with little interest. “Because you’re my sister, after all. The original plan was to take you...convert you. Have you join us. Blood binds stronger than ideology.” She tilted her head. “And at the same time, put a ransom out there on your head and see if anyone bit. But then you, little sis, went and made things interesting.”
Mallory’s stomach dropped.
“Hooking up with the king?” Meg continued lightly. “Bravo! That raised your value considerably. You have no idea how much your head is worth now since I’m sure if you’re one with the beloved king, you won’t be one of us.”
The words landed like a physical blow.
“This was all a setup,” Mallory whispered. “The texts. The fear. You used me.”
Meg didn’t deny it. “We needed leverage after we backed off once we saw your connection with the king, almost right from the start of your first visit. You were the perfect little sacrificial lamb.”
“You were watching me? Would you have let me fall off that cliff?”
A giggle from her sister really ramped up Mallory’s temper. “We didn’t see you fall, but apparently that was very beneficial to our cause. We caught the affection between you two at the ball.”
“And then what, Meg? You just let me leave Onyxheim? Why didn’t you do anything then?” She stuck her finger in Meg’s face. “Why’d you wait?”
The man closest to Meg backhanded Mallory so hard it almost knocked her down. She cried out and grabbed her face with her wet glove.
“Do not get that close to Meg,” the man warned.
“She’s my sister and I’ll do whatever the hell I want,” Mallory shot back. She stepped back up to Meg. “Answer me. Why did you wait? What did you hope to accomplish?”
Meg’s nostrils flared. “Once we saw the connection between you and him, we decided it was better to see where that road led. More beneficial to our cause if we could control the royals.”
“You let me leave. How’d you know I would come back?”
“That was a risk, I’ll admit it. And honestly, I’ll tell you straight, we didn’t think ol’ Jake was going to let you leave and we didn’t pay enough attention and missed your departure. It just took us a little time and a lot of coercion to get your professor to cooperate to get you back.”
Mallory’s heart shattered completely then, the last pieces falling away as the truth became undeniable. “You used him to get me back here?”
“It wasn’t that difficult. You found the plant that needed to be researched. Kudos for that. A little sister-pride here, if I’m honest. He just needed to convince you to get back here.”
Everything had been designed to pull her here. To use her against Jakob.
“What do you want from Jakob?”
Meg shrugged her shoulders. “Whatever we can get. How much do you think you’re worth to the crown?” She leaned forward. “Hmm?”
Mallory sank to her knees and the cold stone seeped into her bones as grief swallowed fear whole. She’d risked everything. Love. Safety. Trust. And it had all been a lie.
“You bitch,” she snarled up at Meg. “You don’t deserve anything from Jakob.”
The man slapped her again and knocked her over sideways, but this time she didn’t fight her way up. There was no sense in it.
